NOM

Eggplant Parmesan.

Actually Eggplant Romano, as the pecorino romano was four dollars cheaper than the parmigiano reggiano. Anyway. It was good.

I sliced the eggplant about a quarter of an inch thick, dredged the slices in heavy cream (it’s what I had on hand, but a milk and egg wash would do as well) and bread crumbs seasoned with salt and pepper, dried basil, and some of the romano, and pan fried them for about a minute and half, two minutes per side. Then I layered the slices in a casserole dish with more romano, and some tomato sauce, and baked it at 400 degrees for twelve minutes. I served it on top of some whole wheat linguine; guh. Delicious.

For the record, my tomato sauce recipe is as follows:

1 carrot, grated
1 small onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 large clove of garlic, or 2 small, minced
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 tablespoon of dried basil
About ten or twelve fresh basil leaves
One 28 oz can of crushed, pureed, or diced tomatoes
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Grate the carrot, chop the onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Sauté the carrot, onion, and bell pepper in some olive oil with a couple of pinches of salt and pepper until they’re soft, then add the garlic, dried basil, and tomato paste. Cook until the tomato paste is a rusty color (eh, maybe five minutes), then add the canned tomatoes. Let it simmer (with the lid on the pot) for about fifteen or twenty minutes, and when you’re ready to eat, slice the fresh basil and sprinkle it on top. Ta-fucking-da.

This amount of sauce is just enough to dress one pound of pasta. I like to add in some chopped spinach, and/or chick peas, and/or diced zucchini if I’m just having pasta without a delightful eggplant parmesanromano on top of it.

Who needs meat anyway. (I say this tongue-in-cheek because I am totally planning to fall off the wagon this afternoon at my uncle’s 4th of July party. He makes THE BEST barbeque chicken you will ever eat, anywhere. THE. BEST.)